Sabaidee! We are a few months into 2018 but New Year celebrations continue in ethnic villages across Laos! The research team of the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) has been here, there, and just about everywhere capturing the sights, sounds, and instruments of Oma, Hmong, Kmhmu, Lahu, and Yao Mien New Year. Much of their research will

We are excited to announce the addition of Katu Backstrap Weaving at TAEC! As with all of our half-day handicraft workshops, we include a museum tour, drink, and instruction by an ethnic artisan from 9:30am - 12pm. Our workshops are a hands-on way to learn something new while on holiday and discover an appreciation for the traditional crafts of Lao

The English translation of The Tai Daeng of Hua Phan Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic is now available at TAEC and our on-line shop. Translated from Thai into English by Linda S. McIntosh, this first book in the TAEC Ethnography Series gives historical background and documents the contemporary lives of the Tai Daeng in Laos. Sumitr Pitiph

In July, we opened the new TAEC Boutique on the main street in Luang Prabang featuring the Heirloom Collection of one-of-kind textiles and other handicrafts. Each piece is made of the highest quality materials by the most respected artisans of their craft. We hope the Boutique will allow more tourists to support fairly-traded handicrafts fro

Know any textile enthusiasts or Lao culture lovers in the American southwest or California? For the third summer in a row, TAEC has been accepted to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. This year, we'd love to make connections with craft shops, museums, and cultural organisations while we're across the Pacific. If you know of a place or an a

More great news about the Stitching Our Stories Project! The short films from last year's participants will be screened at the Luang Prabang Film Festival. The film, which was edited by local Hmong film students, will be shown at 11:00 AM at the LPFF Visitor Center from 7 – 10 December. On Wednesday, 11 December, there will be a special presentatio

We’re four weeks into the second year of Stitching Our Stories! We have expanded to include women from other ethnic groups like Kmhmu, Tai Lue, Tai Dam, and Phunoi and have started the Stitching Our Stories scholarship and internship programme. The work of the participants of years one and two will be featured in a community-curated exhibition on “

A new special exhibition is opening on September 20, 2013 at the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) in Laos. "Carving a Community" is the first exhibition in Luang Prabang to highlight an ethnic minority group from the south of Laos. Highlights of the exhibit include intricate weavings and basketry and the bold carvings adorning Katu comm

We are excited about a new project to empower minority women to share their stories through photography, interviews, and video. In November, TAEC finished the first phase of the project with our partner, PhotoForward. The participants, primarily young Hmong women from the night market, were given cameras, taught basic photography skill

I would like to introduce myself first, my name is Massimo Mera, I am from Italy and I am the owner and manager (along with my wife Bangon, who is a native Laotian) of Kingfisher Ecolodge in southern Laos. We decided to create our “dream” lodge from scratch in 2004 when we were still living in Italy and, after a lot of planning and research,

Please join us for a lecture and discussion on "CULTURAL CHANGES IN ISAAN AND LAOS" Led by Professor William Klausner Wednesday, 21 November 2012 - 4:00 - 5:00pm Join us at TAEC on Wednesday, November 21 for a talk by Prof. William Klausner, President emeritus of the James HW Thompson Foundation and adjunct professor at Chulalong

Last year TAEC was involved in a project to help document traditional children's games in Luang Prabang. For this UNESCO project, TAEC collaborated with the Children's Cultural Centre. The games we documented along with others will be the focus of the new Exhibition on Traditional Children's Games in South-East Asia at the Museum of Siam in Bangko

While things in Luang Prabang may have slowed down with the low season, TAEC has been keeping busy the past few months! Since April we have welcomed a new staff member, completed staff research projects on a variety of topics related to Laos' ethnic diversity, prepared to send our Co-Director and a Yao artisan to America for a month, and had many

The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre in Ban Khamyong, Luang Prabang province, Laos (TAEC) is a non-government museum that relies on ticket and shop sales to keep its doors open. Grants and donations allow us to undertake significant research, conservation and education projects. Here in Laos, public cultural institutions and academ

The Obama administration, may have slightly loosened the travel ban in April 2009 by allowing Cuban-Americans to travel freely to Cuba, but otherwise has made little progress in lifting or at least loosening "El Bloqueo", the 50 year old & cold war trade and travel embargo, imposed by the world's most powerful state against a small island nati

The average length of stay for a traveller to Cambodia is less than three days – Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, and move on. What about the rest of this amazing country? What about cycling the back roads through rice paddies, navigating the Mekong by boat before visiting a river dolphin conservation project, discovering beautiful waterfalls, remote templ

Our Member in Laos, Sompawn Khantisouk, co-founder of award-winning Ecolodge "The Boat Landing Guesthouse" suddenly dissappeared on his way to the town in early 2007, escorted by men in "green uniforms" according to some reports. I had dedicated my presentation at the World Ecotourism Conference to him in May 2007 and enquired for info throug